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Hollinger Corp. 
pH 8,5 




EVOLUTION 



HUMANE SENTIMENT. 



[The following poem was prepared for and 
read before the Ixmgfellow Section of the Uni- 
ty Club at Siou^City, la., February 22, 1888, 
by George W!^ Wakefield.] 



Ot that kind feeling in the lieart of man, 

Engendered througii tlie ages of the past. 

And of its growth, and why and liow it grew, 

Let us a little while debate. I say 

Engendered in the heart of man, for God, 

In any of his other works, has not 

That sentiment developed, which we call 

Humane. In nature search, both far and wide, 

ytill you will find no trace of it, save where, 

By man's strong hand, the laws and proper course 

Of nature have been surely turned aside. 

The laws of God and nature are ur.ehanging; 

'Tis the fittest that survive and all 

The weaklings die. God tempers not the wind 

To the shorn lamb because He shears no lambs; 

But rather tempers He the lamb to the winds. 



(2) 
He plants profusely seeds of every kind; 
The many perish while the few survive. 
Behold a mi^lity forest wliere the trees 
In beauteous strength anchsijnple grandeur stand. 
In years long gone a multitude of saplings marked 
The spot, a few of which took deeper root 
And shot more high towards heaven, o'ertopping all 

the rest; 
And though protected thus from the rude blasts 
That sweep the earth in fury, the weaker trees, 
Shut out from the life giving sunlight of lieaven, 
Soon withered and died, for such is nature's way. 
While the forest flower under the shade 
Of the survivors, opens to the dim light 
Its tinted petals, a gentle vision brignt. 
Of sweetness and of beauty, which needs no care 
Of man. So, even too, the antlered deer 
In weather fair and foul, throughout the woodland 

roves, 
Cropping the tender grass upon the glades. 
And quenching his thirst at the bubbling spring 
That wells from amid the I'ocks in the glen. 
Without any care of man, from year to year. 
The bison roams the plain a monarch proud; 
The hare so freely flees before the wolf; 
The lion's heart with pity is not stirred. 
Because with cruel claws his prey he takes; 
The tiger suffers not the spotted fawn 
That gaily comes within her reach to live, 
The purring cat, though daily fed by man, 
Relentless, tortures tlie unwary mouse; 
The cooing dove feeds on the toiling ant; 
The soaring hawk, of the dove his dinner makes; 
The sportive fly a.\\ easy victim falls 
To the cunning spider's savage jaws, 



(3) 
Nature's children must protect themselves, 
For 'twas the great design that each should prey 
Upon some other. Hardy lichens thrive 
On solid rock alike in torrid zone 
And polar regions, talking from the air 
And rock their food where nothing else could live; 
The cedar plants itself on mountain side; 
The stately pine prospers on sterile sand; 
The sturdy oak finds strength in rigid clays; 
The walnut seeks its food in fertile soils; 
And thus the herbage feeds on earth and air. 
So too one half the brute creation lives 
On plants, and on the first, tlie other half. 
So life, of plant and bird and fish and beast 
A warfare is, unceasing and unending; 
No respite comes, no pity interferes. 
No humane thought in nature ever was 
Till man upon the scene of action came. 
And then it was not known till he had grown 
From brutish, savage life, to be indeed 
A man. When he aspired to rise above 
The brute, provide rude shelter from the storm, 
Make arms to strike his foe and take his prey. 
Lay by a future store and gather round him. 
For protection, wife and children, then 
There dawned the thought we call humane. The first 
Gray streakings of the dawn alone it was. 
For ages came and went thereafter ere 
He captured from the plains his flocks and herds, 
Reduced and broke their native instincts wild 
And made them servants of his will and pleasure; 
Ere by kindred ties he bound the race 
In tribes, and these in states, and builded cities 
Girt about with walls and battlements; 



(4) 
Ere he learned to heal the sick and sought 
By care and nurture to preserve the weak. 
As man from nature's type advanced and grew, 
His needs and wants increased, his native power 
To endure the hardships and privations 
Ot his early habitude was lessened. 
And better care and nurture was demanded 
To prevent extinction. Holy Writ 
Declareth that dominion man shall have, 
O'er fish and fowl and beast and creeping thing. 
And herb and tree and earth and air and sea. 
Of beasts, man's first, and in his wilder state. 
Most useful conquest, was the dog, which still 
Kemains most faithful of them all. Behold, 
How great the changes wrought! a multitude 
Of varied styles in form, size and degree. 
So great indeed that wisest, looking back 
Cannot discern from whence or what they sprang. 
In the huge mastiff's veins, courses the same 
Ancient parent blood that thrills with life 
The smallest pug. Man's will has wrought the change. 
And from the parent stock evolved the swift 
Greyhound, devoid of scent, the bloodhound fierce, 
Keen scented, the dauntless bull, the coward cur. 
The strong slow moving Newfoundland, the bright 
And sprightly terrier, the pointer, setter. 
Shepherd, all and many more, and where 
He'll stay his hand no one can tell. So too. 
The horse, hog, sheep and ox have been evolved. 
By man, from self-supporting native types. 
With special qualities enlarged at loss 
Of their first vigor. Like changes has he wrought 
In plant, shrub, tree and fiower. From rough plants 
Are fields of golden grain, and from the crab. 



(5) 
The luscious apple came; the simple flower 
Has its fertile stamens made to rival 
Its bright petals. Such is man's dominion. 
He can direct the energies of nature, 
But there is a loss for every change 
He works. As Moses smote the rock of old, 
So man smites nature, reaping present good 
But with it ever goes the future ill. 
When first he turns the prairie' s virgin sod 
And scatters golden grain upon the mould 
Responsive nature yields him many fold. 
With little care and toil, no noxious weeds 
Appearing. But when from year to year he ploughs 
And calls for more and more, she yields him still 
But with her bounty sends him hungry weeds 
To injure it, and call for care and toil 
To save the future harvest. So in the growth 
Of man and in the exercise of his 
Dominion, he has garnered through the years 
Rich store of morals, learning, law and love, 
Of pity, of science, art and peace ; 
But with these and attendant on them all 
Have come refinements and novel phases 
Of vice, fraud, crime, hate, sin and degradation 
Unknown before and in the native state 
Impossible. The savage in his cave 
Or in his hut of bark or ice, to ills 
Is little subject, and affords small scope 
To diagnose diseases, and to show 
The doctor's art, but when advanced, he builds 
Imposing houses, and warm raiment makes. 
Excluding sun and storm alike, disease 
Which first a simple serpent was, becomes 
A hydi'a-headed monster, stinging him 



(6) 
From childhood to the grave, in many ways, 
With poisons new that foil the healer's skill. 
In the log dwellings of an age ago 
Disease appeared in fewer forms than now 
In costly mansions. So the flocks and herds 
Are subject to new ills from age to age. 
As man the type improves to sate his greed. 
Or serve liis will. And from tlie first, self-love 
And greed and avarice did prompt in man 
The will, his beasts to care for and protect, 
As well as wife and child. This feeling grew 
By reason guided, till it seemed to man 
To be a duty, for the proverb is 
"A rigliteous man regardeth the life of his beast." 
'Tis only simple justice, where such ills 
Do follow in the train of man's advance 
Tliat he should something do to mitigate 
The same and guard tlie subjects of his greed 
And power from pain and death. The world is moved 
By force, and from its contests laws have grown, 
And states have risen, prospered and decayed. 
So man has conquered savage wilds, sailed seas, 
And builded cities, delved in mines, waged wars, 
Most cruel wars, liimself to civilize. 
"War is cruel" the gallant Sherman said; 
War has been cruel from the battle of the kings 
In Siddims vale to the last encounter of arms 
In the year just past; and in the wake of war 
Have ever followed waste and devastation. 
Wounds and death, spoils and servitude; 
Yet it has kindled sentiments of valor. 
Duty, courage, friendship, pride of countrj', 
Which have ripened into deeds, inspiring 
Poet's song and artist's brush and chisel, 



(7) 
Protecting right and trutli 'gainst wrong and error. 
Thus Abraham the victor lyings pursued, 
Smote them and lecovered Lot, his goods 
And household, and with piety unfeigned, 
He gave to God the glory. War still plays 
A part in man's advance to loftier heights, 
Though we are standing on the vantage ground 
Of the nineteenth century of the gospel of love. 
By force man exercises his dominion 
And crowns his enterprises with success, 
And thus, while he advances, he must act. 
As every wholesome law some hardship bears. 
So any forceful act producing good 
May with it bring some ill; and thus it seems 
Most fit that man should pause from time to time, 
And make amends for evils wrought along 
The path of progress, kindly help the weak, 
And lift the fallen up, for strength may fail. 
And giddy fortune may not always smile. 
So all we call humane, traced to its source. 
Is but self-love by reason guided. 
"Two principles in human nature reign. 
"Self-love to urge and i-eason to restrain;" 
Our acts so tempt-red we may call humane. 
So be humane, but not too humane. 
"Better the toss than the excess." 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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